A US-based Israeli lobby group's Web site was hit by pro-Palestinian hackers this week in the latest cyber attack spilling over from the Middle East conflict, a spokesman for the group said Friday.
The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) site was defaced with pro-Palestinian slogans and redirected to a site operated by the Pakistan Hackerz Club, according to AIPAC spokesman Ken Bricker.
The FBI has been notified and is investigating it "as a criminal offense," said Bricker.
The hackers also accessed personal information and credit card numbers from some AIPAC members after the attack, said Bricker.
"The (hacker) site was only up for about 12 minutes," he said. "We quickly took down the site and notified the individuals whose information was accessed."
Bricker said the site would be down "until we figure out what happened and fix it."
He said the hackers are most interested in the Kashmir conflict and have taken down several sites from Indian government and businesses.
The National Infrastructure Protection Center, a US government task force headed by the FBI, warned last week that the rising violence in the Middle East could spill over to the Internet and to US-based organizations.
"Due to the credible threat of terrorist acts in the Middle East region, and the conduct of these Web attacks, recipients should exercise increased vigilance to the possibility that US government and private sector Web sites may become potential targets," the NIPC said in last week's warning.
Last month, the Internet site of Israel's foreign ministry crashed after it was flooded with information "attacks" from around the world and other Israeli sites were hit by attacks – WASHINGTON (AFP)
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